Harborfest

Festival Turns Town Point Park Into Mecca For Teeming Masses

June 07, 1991|By BRUCE C. EBERT Staff Writer

The festival that fills the Elizabeth River with boats and tall ships, perks up your nostrils and lights up the sky gets fully under way today.

Harborfest, Norfolk's annual, gastronomical, musical and pyrotechnical event, which technically began Thursday, goes into full swing today when the 150-boat Parade of Sail pulls into downtown's Dunmore Dock and adjacent landings about noon today. From then until Sunday evening, Town Point Park and the nearby streets, parking lots and not-yet-under-construction sites will be filled with stages, vendors, exhibits and - most of all - people.

The river will be jammed with vessels filled with party-goers.

And if this Harborfest is like previous ones, then what a party it will be.

Live music, from country to rock; a volleyball tournament; an acrobatic air show; Saturday night fireworks; boat races; tours of tall-masted ships; military rescue maneuvers and children's shows will provide continuous entertainment. The aroma of a mix of ethnic, regional and commonly American cuisine will fill the air. About 380,000 are expected over the three days.

At the same time the Norfolk shindig is taking place, the Seawall Festival will be held in downtown Portsmouth, in a setting a little less crowded and raucous than Harborfest's.

For all the entertainment, food, drink and rollicking that abound, some people come to Harborfest for one thing - to gaze at, photograph and climb aboard the tall ships.

This weekend, there will be several for the public to see: the Bear, a 270- foot Coast Guard Cutter; the Gazela, a 177-foot, three-masted schooner built in Portugal in 1883; and the Maryland Dove, a re-creation of a 17th-century merchant ship. Also docked at Town Point Park will be the Susan Constant, the reproduction of one of the ships that brought the first English colonists to Jamestown in 1607.

The musical headliners are country singers Patty Loveless, Nicolette Larson, Restless Heart and Wild Rose, and the rock group Exile.

Also playing will be The Virginia Symphony Pops, British blues artist John Mayall, the Navy groups Atlantic Express and UNITAS 32, the Air Force Tactical Command Jazz Ensemble, Firefall, Robbin Thompson, Barbara Jean and the Band of Gold, Savannah and Secrets.

Harborfest also will have some acts you can get in on - a limbo contest, for starters. How low can you go? Well, there will be some pros to show you how low they can go.

David Monix and the Bermudians will bend under a space of just inches betweenthe ground and a flaming pole. When they're done, it's everyone else's turn. There also will be a submarine sandwich relay race and - for children - mimes, puppets, the Hurrah Players theatrical troupe and a clown.

To get the most out of the Harborfest experience, it pays to keep a few things in mind:

* There will be lost-and-found tents, in case you and your kids lose each other, at Otter Berth near the flagpoles, near the ship's mast in Town Point Park and at Freemason Harbor. Tag-a-Friend stickers for anyone who might need special assistance if lost are available at Duke and Tazewell streets, Main Street and Waterside Drive, at the ship's mast in Town Point Park, near the ferry dock behind The Waterside and at Otter Berth and Waterside Drive.

* The entire Town Point Garage will be reserved for parking for people with disabilities. In other garages, parking with be on a first-come-first-serve basis, with the usual number of handicapped spaces.

* If you decide to arrive early and hope to park at the Bute Street Garage and Bessie's Place behind Dominion Tower, use the Brambleton Avenue exit off Interstate 264 because Waterside Drive will be closed.

* If you can't make up your mind whether to attend Harborfest or the Seawall Festival, the Elizabeth River Ferry between downtown Norfolk and Portsmouth enables you to do both. One-way fare is $1, with departures every 15 minutes.

* Beer and wine will be sold at the festival; bringing any booze into the festival is illegal. Police will check coolers.

* Harborfest runs 10 a.m.-9 p.m. today, 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday at Town Point Park in downtown Norfolk. No parking is available in the festival area; officials recommend parking at shuttle points and taking TRT buses, which are $4 round-trip and free for children 2 and under. Pickup points include Janaf Shopping Center, Met Park and Old Dominion University Field House in Norfolk and Churchland Shopping Center and Tower Mall in Portsmouth.